
Left Wants ‘Gig Economy’ to Play by Union Rules
California State Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), a former political consultant and labor lawyer, wants the authority to push “gig workers” into collective bargaining and unionization.

California State Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), a former political consultant and labor lawyer, wants the authority to push “gig workers” into collective bargaining and unionization.

The Teamsters Union, representing shuttle bus drivers for tech companies, have kicked up pay for drivers from $18 dollars an hour to $25 after signing contracts with Apple and other Silicon Valley companies, part of a “domino effect” to organize the tech sector.

The media normally treats a politician’s dramatic policy shifts as insincere or foolish “flip-flops,” at least when it’s Republicans changing their minds. Let’s see how they handle one of the most blatant flip-flops in recent memory, as presidential candidate Hillary Clinton suddenly denounces the huge Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that she championed as Secretary of State.

The Teamsters union is withholding an endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, further eroding Clinton’s support from Big Labor.

Videos of unionized and municipally-licensed taxi drivers harassing and intimidating Uber drivers and their customers in large Canadian cities are surfacing online.

Occupiers from Black Lives Matter and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) descended upon California’s capitol Wednesday by the hundreds, demanding state legislators pass a new bill on racial profiling, and calling on Governor Jerry Brown to sign it.

The editorial staff at Gawker Media has become the first digital newsroom in the country to unionize, with 75% of voters agreeing to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East if collective bargaining should be necessary. Gawker’s staff said they will be “determining what we want to bargain for; forming a bargaining committee; and negotiating a contract.”

California’s powerful Teacher’s union is relentlessly assaulting efforts to support student rights, going hard after a judicial ruling against teacher employment laws and a Republican bill package that would have returned quality discernment to teacher layoffs and tackled troubled tenure issues.

Starting Thursday, April 9 at 7 a.m. doctors employed by the University of California student health centers will protest over claims of Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) for a week, inviting students, fellow UC employees and concerned community members to join them and flying a banner over select locations.

In a case watched by journalists and legal bloggers all over the United States, the Supreme Court of Texas has been petitioned to reconsider its decision not to hear a case involving the free press rights of a blog site.

Last year, Washington, D.C.-based news organization Politico hired a strident union supporter as a reporter to cover the labor beat. Now, in a move that should surprise no one, that new employee is making a push to organize the organization’s workers.

With California facing what Steven Greenhut calls “Death by Pension,” former Democrat Speaker of the California Assembly and newly elected State Senator Bob Hertzberg released details of his Senate Bill 8 tax manifesto. What he refers to as the “Upward